The growing expansion of the game of golf places ever higher demands on the auxiliary aids which are required for the rational operation of, above all, practice courses. These practice courses are moreover utilised to an ever increasing degree because of the fact that reasonable levels of golf playing skill on the golf courses themselves require constant practice, to which few have access other than at specifically designed practice courses, so-called driving ranges. Among other things, efficient golf ball retrievers are needed which display high operational reliability and simple construction. The simpler the construction, the higher the operational reliability. In many cases, a simple design and construction also entail a considerable reduction in costs. Prior art apparatuses suffer from relatively complicated design, which entails frequent operational stoppages, and such apparatuses are relatively inefficient in that they often fail to retrieve golf balls because of unevenness in the terrain. For this reason, a large number of golf balls will generally be left out on the course, and in all likelihood many of these remaining golf balls will be pressed down into the ground and can, as a result, not be retrieved by machine but will, in all probability be lost. Golf balls which remain out on the course may also be damaged by lawn mowers and other equipment and may, moreover, entail damage to the lawn mower and the equipment themselves, which may result in considerable repair costs.